USB-C connection dropping external NVMe SSD

[timelessbeing]

I bought a USB-C NVMe M.2 enclosure and two Western Digital Blue 1TB SSDs. The enclosure uses a RTL9210 controller, which seems to be a reputable one. Online reviews were good. It came with a decent looking 1ft USB cable. It feels nice and stout. The SSD mounts rigidly in the enclosure. I installed the head spreader and thermal pad.

When I use it with my 2019 16" Macbook Pro, it keep disconnecting randomly. Sometimes during file transfers, sometimes idle. Everything is connected tightly and is completely motionless. It doesn't seem to matter which ports I use. It doesn't matter if it's warm or not. I have not experienced Mac USB problems with any other device. It happens with both WD SSDs. I've tried re-seating them. When it's working, I get very good transfer speeds (> 900 MB/s). It doesn't get scorching hot.

I emailed the company and they sent me a replacement. The replacement does the exact same thing, even with a replacement cable.

Has anybody else experienced similar problems?

 

[HDFan]

1. Does it make any difference if in Preferences/Energy Saver you set "Prevent ... from sleeping" is checked and "Put hard disks to sleep ..." is not checked?

2. Can your try a different enclosure? Having had this problem multiple times with hard disks and other devices over the years in all cases the ejects were caused by the enclosure.

 

[timelessbeing]

1. I don't have Energy Saver, only Battery. I am usually using the computer when it happens so it shouldn't be going to sleep. Like I said, it even happens during file transfers.

2. My next step is to order another enclosure. But it's weird that nobody else on Amazon reported connection issues with this enclosure. It has a 4 star rating. The REALTEK chipset is supposed to be the best. High speed and runs cooler than the others. Supports more commands of some kind. I bought this one because I liked that the mounting system is tool free but still solid. It's really quick to swap SSds. Anyway, I'm open to recommendations.

 

[mdgm]

Which version of OS X are you on?

The 2019 MBP has soldered on SSD. Apple has provided new bootroms in Big Sur including a hibernation fix for using NVMe SSDs in some older MBPs that don't have soldered on SSDs.

Worth a try checking you have the latest bootrom. If it happens to have some NVMe fixes perhaps some would be related to using external SSDs.

If you are to try a different enclosure perhaps try a Thunderbolt 3 one.

 

[timelessbeing]

@mdgm
Big Sur, up to date

TB3 is really expensive and not worth it for me.

 

[Fishrrman]

"I emailed the company and they sent me a replacement. The replacement does the exact same thing, even with a replacement cable."

When one example of a product gives you problems, it could be a defect in that particular unit. Solution: replace it with another copy.

When TWO copies of the same product give you the same problems, it suggests a problem with THE DESIGN of the product.

In that case, I'd try a different enclosure from a different manufacturer, and see if that corrects the issue.

If you STILL have the same problems, I'd try a different nvme drive (than the WD).

Having said that, if the WD drive is "the problem", replacing the nvme drive might clear things up.

I use this enclosure. Seems to work ok for me (although it does get quite warm under extreme "write loads"):

ORICO M.2 SATA B+M/B Key SSD Enclosure USB 3.1 Type C 5Gbps External Solid State Enclosure Adapter for 2280/2260/2242/2230 M.2 NGFF SSD 4TB Max, NOT Supoort PCIe NVMe/AHCI M.2 SSD-Black

12 MONTHS FREE REPLACEMENT AND LIFETIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT: If there was any problem with the products from ORICO Direct Store, please contact us, you will get a free-replacement within 12 months.

www.amazon.com

 

[timelessbeing]

When TWO copies of the same product give you the same problems, it suggests a problem with THE DESIGN of the product.

If the design were bad wouldn't there be complaints in the reviews?

Having said that, if the WD drive is "the problem", replacing the nvme drive might clear things up.

I got two WD SSD blades and they both disconnect.

I use this enclosure. Seems to work ok for me (although it does get quite warm under extreme "write loads"):

ORICO M.2 SATA B+M/B Key SSD Enclosure USB 3.1 Type C 5Gbps External Solid State Enclosure Adapter for 2280/2260/2242/2230 M.2 NGFF SSD 4TB Max, NOT Supoort PCIe NVMe/AHCI M.2 SSD-Black

12 MONTHS FREE REPLACEMENT AND LIFETIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT: If there was any problem with the products from ORICO Direct Store, please contact us, you will get a free-replacement within 12 months.

www.amazon.com

That has the JSMicro controller which people say has throttling issues. You seem to confirm that.

 

[me55]

I've had good luck updating the firmware on external enclosures if they seemed "moody". You need a Windows machine to do that though.

 

[timelessbeing]

I emailed directly with the manufacturer and they didn't offer any firmware updates.

 

[timelessbeing]

it only seems to eject when I'm copying from a slow source, such as network or USB2 disk.

 

[pdani67]

I have similar model and I can confirm same issues...It disconnects out of the blue when I'm exporting/rendering a video project.. I'm on a Mac Mini M1(BigSuir up to date) and everything is stationary and well plugged in...I'm using Toshiba Nvme SSD (2TB) with the enclosure. It's not happening very often but it did a five times in the past week or so..

 

[eRondeau]

I can tell you with absolute certainty that the firmware of the external enclosure needs to be updated. I have a M1 Mac Mini with an Orico NVMe M.2 SSD. When the enclosure first arrived I had all the same symptoms, ejections, failures as you're having. Drove me bonkers and was ready to return it. Eventually determined it shipped from Orico with long-outdated Realtek RTL9210 firmware. Found the firmware updater on www.station-drivers.com (runs on MS Windows only!) and did the update... it went flawlessly and instantly the SSD became perfect. It's been my 2TB Time Machine backup drive via USB-C 3.1 Gen-2 @ 10Gbps and it's been perfect. Not a single disconnect, ejection, or problem.

So go ahead and update your firmware... follow the instructions exactly... borrow a Windows-10 laptop if you need to. It literally takes 5 minutes and it transforms the drive from unusable to incredible.

 

[HDFan]

Enclosures tend to cause a lot of unexpected dismounts. In some cases properly un-mounting one enclosure can cause devices to eject on a different device.

When I buy enclosures now I stick with 1st tier brands that offer good support. Haven't had any problems since.

 

[timelessbeing]

what does the brand matter if they all use the same crap chips?

 

[marekgrapiniak]

I can tell you with absolute certainty that the firmware of the external enclosure needs to be updated. I have a M1 Mac Mini with an Orico NVMe M.2 SSD. When the enclosure first arrived I had all the same symptoms, ejections, failures as you're having. Drove me bonkers and was ready to return it. Eventually determined it shipped from Orico with long-outdated Realtek RTL9210 firmware. Found the firmware updater on www.station-drivers.com (runs on MS Windows only!) and did the update... it went flawlessly and instantly the SSD became perfect. It's been my 2TB Time Machine backup drive via USB-C 3.1 Gen-2 @ 10Gbps and it's been perfect. Not a single disconnect, ejection, or problem.

So go ahead and update your firmware... follow the instructions exactly... borrow a Windows-10 laptop if you need to. It literally takes 5 minutes and it transforms the drive from unusable to incredible.

Hi!

I had exactly the same issue. I have downloaded the newest firmware I could find on www.station-drivers.com and installed on my Orico NVMe M.2 SSD. It was working fine for few days but now getting disconnections again.

@eRondeau Can you please share which firmware version have you installed ?

Regards,
Marek

 

[eRondeau]

Hi!

I had exactly the same issue. I have downloaded the newest firmware I could find on www.station-drivers.com and installed on my Orico NVMe M.2 SSD. It was working fine for few days but now getting disconnections again.

@eRondeau Can you please share which firmware version have you installed ?

Regards,
Marek

I did the RTL9210 NVMe FW update on Nov 30, 2020 using FW dated Oct 8, 2020. It was FW v. 1.23.9.100520. The actual file of the archive was UTHSB_MPtool_Lite09.100520 and it installed UTNVME_B_v1.23.9.100520.bin

Link here: https://ftp.station-drivers.com/index.php/en/driverss/search/lang,en-gb/

I see there are newer FW releases since but I'm not going to tempt fate LOL. My Orico w/ 2TB Samsung NVMe has been 100% flawless as my Time Machine backup on my "base" M1 Mac Mini for six months now. I hope you're able to get yours working perfectly too.

 

[marekgrapiniak]

I did the RTL9210 NVMe FW update on Nov 30, 2020 using FW dated Oct 8, 2020. It was FW v. 1.23.9.100520. The actual file of the archive was UTHSB_MPtool_Lite09.100520 and it installed UTNVME_B_v1.23.9.100520.bin

Link here: https://ftp.station-drivers.com/index.php/en/driverss/search/lang,en-gb/

I see there are newer FW releases since but I'm not going to tempt fate LOL. My Orico w/ 2TB Samsung NVMe has been 100% flawless as my Time Machine backup on my "base" M1 Mac Mini for six months now. I hope you're able to get yours working perfectly too.

Thanks!
I have installed newer version. Random disconnects happened from time to time but still not perfect. I will try the version you recommended

 

[gurbina93]

Also using an Orico with RTL9210, an identical one with a JMS chipset.
Also got two ADATA SX8200 PRO NVMe (1TB and 2TB) and Toshiba NVMe (256GB).

This issue only happens with the ADATA SX8200 PRO, with the Toshiba NVMe it works just fine.

I tried like 5 different drivers from that website, I am inclined to say the issue might be with the ADATA drives but there's no firmware updates for these, they are generic as they come....

Any ideas on what else to try? It works for a while until it doesn't, I can copy a few GB before it starts ejecting and it won't stay mounted for more than a second or two.
The only way to fix it is by connecting to a Windows laptop and running the drive repair which takes a few measly seconds to run.

Formatted to AFPS, exFAT, NTFS, MacOS Extended, etc. It happens on both ADATA SX8200 PRO with both Orico (one with RTL9210 and one with JMS chipset) but not with the Toshiba NVMe.

I already ran out of ideas on what to do next.

 

[Fishrrman]

gurbina wrote:
"Formatted to AFPS, exFAT, NTFS, MacOS Extended, etc. It happens on both ADATA SX8200 PRO with both Orico (one with RTL9210 and one with JMS chipset) but not with the Toshiba NVMe.
I already ran out of ideas on what to do next."

Well, sometimes there's NOTHING one can do, other than set the drive aside and forget about it.

Before I'd relegate the ADATA nvme's to "the drawer", I'd try one or two DIFFERENT enclosures for it. Non-Orico, of course.

 

[archi penko]

I can tell you with absolute certainty that the firmware of the external enclosure needs to be updated. I have a M1 Mac Mini with an Orico NVMe M.2 SSD. When the enclosure first arrived I had all the same symptoms, ejections, failures as you're having. Drove me bonkers and was ready to return it. Eventually determined it shipped from Orico with long-outdated Realtek RTL9210 firmware. Found the firmware updater on www.station-drivers.com (runs on MS Windows only!) and did the update... it went flawlessly and instantly the SSD became perfect. It's been my 2TB Time Machine backup drive via USB-C 3.1 Gen-2 @ 10Gbps and it's been perfect. Not a single disconnect, ejection, or problem.

So go ahead and update your firmware... follow the instructions exactly... borrow a Windows-10 laptop if you need to. It literally takes 5 minutes and it transforms the drive from unusable to incredible.

This helped me so much thank you! It does work like a charm.

On the M1 macs I used UTM to create a Windows 11 arm VM and it worked like a snap.

Just to suggest that I actually used the Plugable Firmware updater (https://plugable.com/products/usbc-nvme) > go to Downloads on this page, which I found far more navigable and easier to use than the Station Drivers website, and no fiddling necessary. I just used the latest firmware.

All in all I think most people’s issues are with the Realtek chip in their enclosure. Mine was similarly Orico , but it exists in other brands too.